First Look: Ecoxbt speaker: Wireless and waterproof

-I'm David Carnoy, Executive Editor for CNET.com.
And I'm here with the Grace Digital ECOXBT.
That BT stands for Bluetooth and yes this is a wireless speaker.
It is also a waterproof speaker.
It's not water-resistant.
It is actually fully waterproof.
Well it isn't the sexiest looking speaker.
Some people might even say it's a little bit ugly.
What is impressive about it is that it
delivers very big sound for such a small size speaker.
So really at first glance, well it might not look that good and even a little bit cheap, it's actually one of the better Bluetooth speakers you could find for the money.
It's price at less than $100.
It's obviously very portable and has a rechargeable battery inside that gets about 10 hours of battery life, takes about 2 hours to charge it.
And you can basically take it around anywhere with you.
As far as the charging goes, there is a little hidden door on the back.
You pop it
open and you can charge the speaker.
You do have to put that gasket back on to make it waterproof again.
And this also comes with a little lanyard to keep that little door attached to the speaker so you don't lose it.
There's also a carabiner that you can attach to the speaker so you can dangle the speaker from your backpack, even your belt.
Though it's a little bit heavy, it weighs around 1.5 pounds.
Like other Bluetooth speakers, this has a range of about 33 feet.
You can do a little bit better if there are no obstacles
in the way.
But really you can stream from the Smartphone, Tablet, any device that's Bluetooth enabled to the speaker and use that device as the remote control.
There are a few buttons on the top line control.
It also has a built-in speaker phone which is a nice addition.
But all in all despite the speaker's unsleek design, it is not the best looking speaker in the world.
I did like how it sounded and I do think it's well designed at a good value for the money especially since it's waterproof.
I'm David
Carnoy and that's the Grace Digital ECOXBT Bluetooth speaker.
Thanks for watching.